The list of high profile directors and actors that have boarded and deplaned from Warner Bros.' ambitious live-action Akira film is almost too exhaustive to list. However, in the 8 years since the project's development, no attached director has stated what Taika Waititi has said he'd like to do with the film. Namely, that he wouldn't white-wash the cast and that he'd follow the manga, not the anime film.
In an interview with IGN while at the red carpet premiere for his latest film, Thor: Ragnarok, Taika stated, "I actually love the books. Love the movie, but I would not do a remake of the movie. I would do an adaptation of the books. Asian teenagers would be the way to do it for me and probably no, not, like no name, I mean sort of unfound, untapped talent. Yeah, I’d probably want to take it a bit back more towards the books."
Given the backlash on Ghost in the Shell selecting Scarlett Johansson as the lead and Netflix's Death Note film, perhaps the turnaround from Akira starring Garret Hedlund and Kristen Stewart is inevitable. Just recently, Ed Skrein wisely dropped out of the Hellboy reboot after the online backlash surrounding the fact that his character is Asian in the comics. Daniel Dae Kim was quickly cast as his replacement.